Rainforests & beaches of northern Madagascar

This morning, you’ll head back to the airport for your flight to Diego in the north of the country. After a flight of around 90 minutes, your guide will meet you and drive you to your historic lodge on the outskirts of Joffreville. In the afternoon, you may like to explore Amber Mountain National Park, just a 10-minute drive from your hotel, and trek through the beautiful rainforest here.

Today, your driver will meet you and take you further south to Ankarana, making regular rest stops to break up the three-hour journey. Depending on the weather conditions, you may stop at the Red Tsingy rock formation, one of the two main Tsingy's in the country. In the late afternoon, you’ll arrive at the remote Iharana Bush Camp, located at the foot of a limestone massif.

Today, you may like to take one of the camp’s traditional dugout canoes on the lake within the community reserve. Teeming with wildlife, bird species such as herons, cattle egrets, malachite kingfishers, and drongos are found here. One of the best times for this is later in the day. The birds are really active and as the sun sets, the tsingy changes from its everyday gray shade to yellow, orange and red.

Today you have the whole day to explore Ankarana Special Reserve, located an hour away from your camp. Here you’ll have a choice of trails and walks which range in distance and difficulty level. We recommend the shorter walks, which include a visit to the bat caves and the suspension bridge, which gives an excellent view of the limestone tsingy. A night walk is also a great experience for the chance to spot nocturnal lemurs and chameleons.

This morning, you may like to take another walk in the community reserve before meeting your driver, who will take you to the small port of Ankify. From here, you’ll catch a boat across to Andranira. As you leave the port, you’ll have beautiful views across the bay and of the mainland Madagascan coast. After around 45 minutes, you’ll arrive at Baobab Beach, a remote stretch of coastline where your lodge for the next few nights is located.

There are many activities available at Eden Lodge that can be taken at your own pace. Today, you could start with a leisurely walk through the nearby forest. Here you’ll find soaring baobab trees and a variety of lemur species, including the rare aye-aye lemur. Guided walks are possible from the lodge. If you’d like an expert guide to accompany you, they’ll be able to answer any questions and help point out the wildlife that you come across.

For the chance to see endemic birds and reptiles, it’s worth visiting the Sambirano wood. We recommend this during the early hours of the morning for the best chance of spotting wildlife. Returning to the lodge, you may like to relax on a lounger at the beach or enjoy views of the sea from the front deck.

This area is particularly renowned for its diverse marine life, with dolphins and turtles frequently seen in the surrounding waters. Green turtles can be seen most mornings, nestled in the grass outside the lodge. Whale watching is also possible during the season, between July and early September.

You may like to spend today snorkeling or kayaking from the lodge. Unlike most places in Madagascar, you can go directly into the sea from the beach here. If you wish to go further out, we’d suggest joining a snorkeling trip to the nearby Nosy Tanikely marine reserve, one of the best snorkeling sites in the area, which is full of numerous fish and an abundance of coral.

Today you’ll leave Eden Lodge by boat and arrive at the island of Nosy Be within 45 minutes. Your driver will meet you at the port and take you to the airport for your onward flight. If you are flying home from Antananarivo, you'll have the use of a day room in a nearby hotel before departing.